French with English subtitles

14A - Advisories: Violence, Disturbing Content & Mature Subject Matter.

BEST CANADIAN FEATURE AWARD WINNER CIFF 2010

Based on the play by Order of Canada recipient Wajdi Mouawad, Denis Villeneuve’s INCENDIES follows twin siblings Jeanne and Simon as they carry out the last wishes of their mother. In her will, the mother asks the children to deliver two letters, one to their father and one to their brother—a seemingly simple request, except that Jeanne and Simon have never met their father, and are completely unaware of having a brother.

The journey to completing their mothers’ task will take both siblings deep into their complicated roots and into the conflicts that define their Middle Eastern heritage. No stranger to controversy, Villeneuve directed 2009’s POLYTECHNIQUE, a look at the 1989 Ecole Polytechnique massacre, and he brings the same unflinching eye to the harrowing world of INCENDIES. The film makes no judgements on the siblings’ discoveries—like Jeanne and Simon, it is up to the audience to decide how to interpret each revelation. INCENDIES depicts a world of beauty, hardship, vengeance and forgiveness, and like in the real world, there are no easy answers.

PH